In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Jim Teeters introduces ATM, his acrostic guide for discipleship: “Are you available? Are you teachable? Are you movable?”

Such good questions.

The brevity of each day’s Fruit of the Vine devotional makes it impossible for Jim to do much here, but what he offers regarding that first question is helpful: Listening to the Holy Spirit “takes my time and attention away from the normal duties and worries of my world.”

I don’t know about you, but it is just these normal duties and worries that control my schedule, my interactions, my thoughts. To set them aside—even for a few moments—feels both irresponsible (as if I am being somehow derelict) and also freeing (a space in which to breathe). Jim shares that he finds time for this kind of listening “when I go on my morning walk. I can pray, look around at God’s wonderful, changing creation and move into a state of spiritual listening.”

How are you making yourself available? When do you listen?

In tomorrow’s devotional, Jim briefly tackles the question of being teachable, and on Wednesday, he writes on what it can mean to make ourselves movable. Which reminds me. Fruit of the Vine is available as a quarterly booklet, but you can also receive it as a daily email (at a discounted rate).

In the meantime, Jim challenges us to “find a time and place for listening.” And he offers this prayer: “Lord, help me to be available, teachable, and movable in response to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Help me find the time and place for listening.”